One of the good things about the Capital Region is that you don't have to travel all that far to go hiking, experience some natural areas, or just kind of get away from it all.

We were reminded of that recently by the map above. It estimates noise levels on summer day around the country. The deeper the blue, the more quiet the place. And as you can see, both the Catskills and the Adirondacks (especially) offer some rather deep quiet.

Hudowalski lived in both Troy and Albany, and Paul Grondahl recently had a nice story about her legacy and what she's meant to many Adirondack hikers.

From an Adirondack Forty-Sixer bio of Hudowalski, in reference to her first hike up Mt. Marcy:

Reflecting on that trip years later she said,

"It was tough. I was on all fours sometimes. I didn't think I was going to get there. But I had to get to the top - there was some reason. God knows what it was but I had to go on. And on the top just for a fraction of a moment, the clouds lifted while I was there and I looked down and there a mile below me was Lake Tear of the Clouds, the Hudson's highest source. And you know, that did something to me. I had seen something - I felt it. I never forgot the mountain and I never forgot that trip."

From that point on she said, "I never talked about anything but mountains. I talked about them, I
wrote about them. I gave speeches about them."

Hudowalksi passed away in 2004 at the age of 98.

As Douglas Arnold, the Forty-Sixer who led the effort to name the mountain in honor of Hudowalksi, said to the Syracuse Post-Standard: "Everyone has a mentor, a coach, a parent or grandparent, friend, or teacher who influences the outcome of their life. These angels are remembered but rarely honored. Grace Hudowalksi was a mentor to thousands of people as she shared her enthusiasm for the Adirondacks with everyone."

Check out this trailer/preview for The 46ers*, a documentary about people who hike the Adirondack's High Peaks. The cinematography is beautiful.

Film blurbage:

"The 46ers" is a documentary feature about the men and women who hike all of the 46 High Peaks (over 4,000 ft elevation) in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate NY. The filmmakers set out to answer the question, "what transformers ordinary men and women into the legendary mountaineers known as the 46ers?" ...

The idea for the project came about in July, 2012 when director Blake Cortright summited Mt. Marcy, New York's tallest mountain. As he took in the surrounding view, he was amazed that this area hadn't been given better cinematic treatment. After an exhausting weekend hiking Marcy, Tabletop, and Wright Peak, Blake began to ask "why do people do this?" That started the idea for the project.

Lauren and George are planning a wedding in the Capital Region, and they're chronicling the planning process here on AOA. But this time, Lauren's talking with a couple about going a different direction...

When planning a wedding, not everyone decides to do a big bash in a ballroom with all of their family and friends. Some couples forgo a traditional wedding and opt to elope instead.

Local couple Nick and Sita chose to "sorta-elope" to Lake Placid -- and say they couldn't be happier with their decision.

They were three grown bears about 25 yards away. [Amy] Stafford wasn't scared. An experienced hiker and outdoors woman, she was glad for a chance to see a wild animal. She also knew what to do. She waved her hands, made noise, jumped around and yelled at the bears. The guidebooks say not to run from a bear, and she didn't. They ran off. Stafford started down the trail again, pleased with herself that she handled the situation well, and even managed to snap a few photographs. But then the bears came back. Stafford turned around again, yelling and smashing rocks. She played music on her phone as loud as it would go. Each time she yelled, the bears dropped back, only to creep up again. One seemed more curious than the other two. When they lost sight of her because she went down a hill or around a bend, Stafford could hear the bears running to catch up, sometimes behind her on the trail, sometimes alongside her in the woods.

Stafford told Hornbeck this went on for a mile on the trail, before it all came to a pointed conclusion. Yikes.

The DEC has heard of several incidents of nuisance bears between Wakely Dam and Stephens Pond in the town of Indian Lake.

In one encounter, which took place Wednesday, Sept. 18, three bears followed a woman hiking alone, according to the DEC. The woman made several attempts to scare the animals away, but they continued to follow her. One bear, in particular, got very close to the woman near Stephens Pond.

"Feeling threatened she stabbed the bear with a knife," according to a DEC statement.

The bears then fled, and the woman safely hiked to the state-run Lake Durant Campground.

Bears usually run off when humans attempt to scare them. In this case, the DEC tells the Daily Enterprise it might be a case of the bears getting food from hikers in the past.

Some history: The last person in New York State to be killed by a bear was in 2002 in an odd incident in which a young bear dragged a 5-month-old human into the woods in Sullivan County. Before that, the last human death by the paw of a bear was in 1933 when an 11-year-old on Long Island was killed by a bear tied up in front of an inn. Of course there have been other non-fatal encounters, including a 2011 incident in which a woman in Greene County was knocked down by a bear. And in recent years bears have been wandering into more urban areas of the Capital Region. [CBS News] [Wikipedia] [TU]

I'm looking for recommendations for a weekend camp/cabin rental somewhere up in the Adirondacks. My desires are simple - on a body of water. I'm not looking for anything fancy or expensive - simpler is MUCH preferred. We like to swim, kayak, hike, have campfires, grill and just relax. My wife and I are looking to begin what we hope to become a yearly tradition for our new family. Where have you, your families or your friends gone that you might recommend?

Do you have any tips for searching for something like this, whether through realtors, any site that's specific to this kind of search, etc? Three years of NY living don't provide me with the strong base of relatives / schoolmates / neighbors who I can mine for recommendations. Any thoughts / help would be greatly appreciated!

If have a specific suggestion, by all means please share. But what we really like about Sean's question is that he's asking how to go about finding a place like this. Sometimes that's the best way to help someone.

So, suggestions for how Sean should start looking into? This summer is nearing an end, but it could help him (and others) get a jump on next summer.

At the end of a long and winding road in the Adirondacks there is a trail to Mt. Marcy that includes a bit of history along the way. It was on this path that Teddy Roosevelt hiked during his last day as Vice President of the United States.

Today, you can take the same trail the Rough Rider/cowboy/future president walked over a century ago. Climbing the tallest peak in the state is enough of an accomplishment, but doing it in the footsteps of a president who once rode a moose like a horse? Well, that's just about as cool as you can get.

An illustration from Adventures in the wilderness, or Camp-life in the Adirondacks.

There are a lot of interesting bits in this Smithsonian article about the history of the Adirondacks as a vacation destination -- specifically the influence of Adventures in the wilderness, or Camp-life in the Adirondacks, an 1869 book by William H.H. Murray that helped popularize the idea of vacationing in nature. And after a rough start (unprepared city people heading into the wilderness), the idea took off:

The Adirondacks were soon booming. By 1875, some 200 hotels and camps were operating in the mountains, with new stagecoach services rattling from the train stations and steamboats plying the lakes. By 1900, the Adirondacks' summer population had risen to around 25,000 from 3,000 in 1869. Attracted by the fishing and hunting but appalled by the crowds, the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Carnegies, Huntingtons and other fabulously wealthy industrialists built their own spectacular "great camps," where they could disport with their families in private luxury. The American vacation was born--quite literally. The scions of New York City took to declaring that they would "vacate" their city homes for their lakeside summer retreats, and the term "vacation" replaced the British "holiday" in common parlance. As fellow Bostonian Wendell Phillips put it, Murray's book had "kindled a thousand campfires and taught a thousand pens how to write of nature."

The article's author, Tony Perrottet, details the history of some of the great camps, and then visits some of the spots mentioned by Murray.

Murray's book -- a combination guide book/travelogue/ode to the outdoors -- is available in online archives. Skimming through it, he is both enthusiastic about the wonders of nature... and perhaps a bit understated about its complications. A section about bears is after the jump.

It's off-season in Lake George. That means no kayaks, no swimming, no souvenir shopping, and no tourists. As you drive down Canada Street, most of the buildings are dark with signs in the window reading "Closed for the Season!"

The AOA-organized trip to North Creek on the Saratoga and North Creek Railway was this past Saturday. It was a nice time -- and we had some good wine and cheese at barVino. Thanks to everyone who came along.

From the summit of Mt. Marcy, the highest of the High Peaks. (No, don't start here.)

By Casey Normile

So you've decided to you want to hike up one of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks. That's great -- the High Peaks are one of the best parts about upstate New York (if not THE best part, though I'm biased).

But when you climb your first Adirondack High Peak, you don't want to be THAT guy. You know him -- the guy with only one water bottle, jean shorts, Converse sneakers, and a camera. Not only will you look silly when the fully geared-up 46ers pass by you on the trail, you'll also feel ridiculous when you're thirsty, hungry, tired, and blistered halfway up the mountain.

After hiking 21 of the 46 High Peaks, you can now learn from the many mistakes I've made...

There's still a little winter left, and if you're looking for a way to make the most out of it, Lake Placid is less than a two-hour three hour drive from the Capital District. Sure, Lake Placid is a bit of a tourist trap, but as a two time host of the Winter Olympics it comes by it honestly (only seven cities can make that claim).

Now, I'm not a fan of tourist traps. I'd rather let wild hyenas pull my toenails off than shop for cheap souvenirs or pay $10 more than I rightfully should for a steak. Lake Placid has some of that, but it also has real history and plenty of locals who are trying to survive and keep the magic alive. Yes, there's a faux outdoor outfitter outlet, but there's also a local movie theater and dozens of shops and restaurants that will give you an authentic Lake Placid experience.

A clip from the map, of New York State, is above. The darker the green, the more tree mass there is.

The national map is posted after the jump in large format. You can see the large swath of forest that runs from Maine, through New Hampshire and Vermont, includes eastern New York, and then runs along the Applachians. And as dense as parts of the swath are, the long, narrow (relatively speaking) forests of the West Coast still trump the East for density of tree stuff (the trees are rather large out there).

If you look at the night satellite photo of the North American continent, you see huge amounts of lights all along the East & West coasts. But - there is a big dark area, where there are few electric lights, which is great for stargazing - & that is the Adirondack Park. Head into the park, the more in the middle the better. We see great stars from Lake George on up. I remember a night we were on Little Tupper Lake (used to be in the Whitney estate) floating in canoes, seeing the Milky Way bright enough to be reflected in the water, listening to loons - & being stunned by the Perseids. Super dark sky, great show.

So we pulled the satellite imagery from NASA and annotated it. A small version is above. Much bigger versions -- of New York State and the United States -- are after the jump.

There's also another 2005 NASA map that highlights how low the human population density is in the Adirondacks.

If you've wanted to explore the Adirondacks but don't know where you begin, the Wild Center in Tupper Lake is a good place to start. You can learn about the history and biology of the largest park in the lower 48 states -- and being almost smack in the middle of the Adirondacks makes it an ideal starting point for a variety of day trips.

The Saranac Lake Ice Palace really is a sight to see. Thousands of blocks of ice weighing in between 400 and 800 pounds a piece were used to build the structure and luckily, it's no hands-off exhibit.

The public is welcome to come in and sit on the ice thrones (the theme this year is "medieval"), climb the stairs, take photos with the animal ice carvings, and squeeze through the small tunnels and mazes.

It was packed on Sunday -- the last day of the carnival, but the word is that the ice palace will be up (pending melt) until the end of February.

When I was in middle school I would watch my sister's high school Varsity soccer games with my cleats and shin guards in a bag nearby. I'd often fantasize that her team would be down a player and look to the crowd for help. I would be the one they chose, I'd play my heart out, and score the winning goal.

And then, of course, I'd be a starter for the high school team as a 7th grader and go on to the Olympics after that.

Flash forward to the 2006 Winter Olympics: I watch the track events religiously on TV. I proclaim to friends and family that I want to be a skeleton slider (it's the belly-down, head-first, single-person sled race).

But I never had the opportunity to try it -- until this past weekend when I went down the skeleton track in Lake Placid.

The skeptic in me wanted to immediately dismiss the authenticity of Lapland Lake's "Finnish" theme. But after taking in the picturesque setting, sampling the Lohilaatlkko (salmon casserole) and hearing cheesy Finnish versions of American pop music playing outside the lodge - I was sold, er myyty.

Not only does Lapland Lake have world-class cross country skiing, but it makes you feel like you've been transported to theLapland -- just 60 miles from Albany.

The resort is run by former U.S. Olympic cross country skier Olavi Hirvonen and his wife Ann. Olavi's parents are from Finland and he spent quite a few years living there. His passion for skiing and all things Finnish pour out of this place.

If you're thinking about planning a trip, there are a few things to keep in mind (like where to find the reindeer)...

Remember that story about the two guys who accused Troy cops of roughing them up unnecessarily after a chase into Menands last month? One of those guys got arrested again Monday night. [Troy Record]

The mayor of Saratoga Springs is defending his choice to post bail for a local luxury home builder who's been accused of fraud. (It seems the sons of the two men are friends.) One of the people who says they've been defrauded says the mayor's face will soon be meeting egg. [TU]

An Albany woman says an employee at the New York State Museum told her to stop breastfeeding in public there. It seems the employee doesn't actually know the rules, though -- the museum has no prohibition against breast feeding anywhere in the building. [WNYT]

The Scoop

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